The Art of Kissing
by inukagome15
Summary: Short stories about Steve and Tony kissing.
1. Forehead Kiss

**Wow, FF, really? There are more violent stories that parade under the K+ rating, and you choose to delete _this_ one because of what? A little obscure sexy times that one can see in any old movie? Perfectly _consensual_ sexy times?**

**For the record, taking a story off WITH NO WARNING AT ALLis really not cool. Even professional organizations do a better job than that most of the time.**

**I don't love this site, but I do love my readers, so here's me reposting this story. For the record, AO3 is my preferred site nowadays, and it's relatively easy to get an invite now (so I'm told) and you can lurk on there even without an account and write anonymous reviews and leave kudos and the font options are just lovely so I really like AO3 and ff can go bury itself in a hole.**

**This one's for kurowrites, who asked for a forehead kiss.**

**So there's a kissing meme going around. Feel free to drop by and prompt me in my askbox! :)**

inukagome15 dot tumblr dot com slash post/88184071661/kissing-fic-meme

**The Art of Kissing:** Short stories about kisses shared between Steve and Tony.

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**Forehead Kiss**

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Tony wasn't quite sure what had woken him up, but something had dragged him out of the peaceful oblivion that was sleep. He grumbled discontentedly, wiggling down into the warm blankets surrounding him.

There was a small laugh right above him. "Tony."

Tony refused to answer, keeping his eyes closed.

"I know you're not asleep, Tony." There was a sweet press of lips against his forehead, and oh. Now Tony knew what had woken him up.

"Asleep," Tony grumbled, pressing his face into a smooth expanse of skin. He inhaled deeply, taking in Steve's unique scent and warmth.

Fingers stroked through Tony's hair, scratching his scalp gently. "You're remarkably coherent for a man who claims he's asleep."

Giving it up for lost, Tony rubbed his nose against Steve's chest and opened his eyes, blinking up into Steve's fond face. "Now I'm not," he sighed, tilting his head back into Steve's fingers.

"Now you're not," Steve agreed, and he brought his head down for a kiss, warm lips pressing against Tony's own.

Waking up wasn't so bad, not if he had this every morning.


	2. Collarbone Kiss

**This one's for nightwalker.**

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**Collarbone Kiss**

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"Steve."

Steve hummed in response, eyes fixed on the drawing he was trying to finish. It wasn't particularly interesting as it was about a bowl of fruit that Clint insisted on keeping in the living room because magazines had them, but Steve was going to finish this because it was the fifth time he'd started.

Don't get him started on what happened the last several times.

"Steve."

Steve carefully shaded in the apple, humming again in response but definitely not listening.

"Steeeve."

"Uh-huh." Steve squinted slightly at the banana, wondering if he should really add the plastic spider that was dangling off the end of it. What was it doing there anyway?

"I'm gonna go make out with Thor."

"Sounds good." Steve held the drawing up to the light, filling in the round body of the spider.

"I'm getting Rhodey for a threesome. You in for being the filling?"

"Great." Steve drew in the dangly legs, adding little wiggle lines because he could.

"You're not listening to me." Somebody draped himself over Steve's shoulders, head coming to rest in the crook of Steve's neck.

"Let me finish this," Steve murmured, angling his head away from Tony's messy hair to finish the body of the spider.

"You've been working on that for ages." Tony mouthed at his neck. "You just agreed to a threesome without batting an eye."

Now Steve was distracted by Tony sucking on his neck. "Huh - what?"

"I'm gonna call Rhodey," Tony continued, trailing up to nip at Steve's earlobe. "And he's going to come right over because having sex with an American idol has been his dream—"

"Tony, what?" Steve managed to stop Tony from mauling his neck long enough to give him an incredulous look. "I did not agree to having sex with Rhodey."

Tony blinked at him, face the picture of innocence. "You did. I even have it on tape. JARVIS?"

Steve held up a hand before JARVIS could pull it up. "No, JARVIS, don't."

Tony pulled himself over the couch and draped himself over Steve before the other could stop him, pushing aside the sketchbook as he did. "Now that I have your undivided attention…" He leaned in for a quick kiss, pecking Steve on the lips.

Steve eyed the fruit bowl in dismay. "Tony…"

"The fruit bowl can wait," Tony said in a low tone that did positively sinful things to Steve's body. He shuddered before he could stop himself.

"That's it…" Tony murmured softly, ducking his head to plant a warm kiss on Steve's collarbone. He followed this with several smaller kisses and nips up Steve's neck, finishing with a warm, soft kiss on Steve's jaw line, right at the place where he couldn't stop another full-body shudder of pleasure.

"I wasn't done," Steve managed, head dropping back to the couch. This opened up his neck to Tony, who proceeded to scrape his teeth right at Steve's pulse point..

"It can wait." Tony nipped at his pulse, planting a kiss there a moment later.

That was all Steve could take. With a huff, he flipped them over so he was on top, bending down to take Tony's mouth in his own, his hand snaking under Tony's shirt with a single-minded intent.

The fruit bowl could wait.

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**But the sketchbook ended up being too crumpled to draw on, and somehow the TV managed to make away with it when Steve wasn't looking. Set in either That Damn Tank Top or The Silent War. The 'verse is up to you.**


	3. Kiss with a Fist

**But what is a kiss with a fist... o.O**

**For kurowrites!**

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**Kiss with a Fist**

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"Damn it, Tony!"

Tony ignored the furious super soldier behind him, quickly moving down to his workshop. The other wasn't deterred, keeping pace with him easily.

"When are you going to listen? We had a plan and you deviated from it!"

"I deviated from it because there was no other choice," Tony said, quickly typing in the password and opening the door.

"Then you could have said something!" Steve's face was tight in anger, his eyes flashing. "I would've adjusted it!"

"There was no time." Tony picked up a wrench for lack of anything else to do with Steve in the same area. After a moment, he sighed and met Steve's furious eyes. "I did the calculations, Steve. My way was the fastest, easiest way to do it _without_ casualties."

"It put you at risk," Steve said tightly, his arms folded across his chest. "That's not acceptable."

"There are risks in this line of work," Tony pointed out needlessly, setting the wrench aside. He called up a holograph, pulling up the schematics of the newest arc reactor. "Or have you failed to notice that we fight against villains who could decimate New York City given half a chance?"

"That's why we fight as a team, Tony. _We_, not _you_. You're not alone in this anymore, so why do you keep fighting as if you are?"

"What do you _want_ from me?" Tony threw up his hands, spinning the holograph away. "So I didn't follow the plan – big deal! My file says I'm not a team player; you _know_ that."

"I don't take files at face value, and you've played well on a team before."

"People change." Tony tightened his jaw, glaring at Steve. "Would you rather I put Natasha at risk? Clint? I went with the best plan given my options, and it _worked_."

"If you had _told_ me about these options, I could've come up with something different that didn't put you in harm's way!"

Tony blinked, narrowing his eyes at Steve a second later. "I have a _suit_. A suit made out of a ridiculously strong metal that even tanks can't penetrate. Just _how_ am I in harm's way?"

"No armor's impenetrable," Steve said, voice quieter but no less fiercer for it. He stepped closer, coming right into Tony's personal space. "No armor's impenetrable," he repeated, "and I'm not going to lose one of my own because he was too stubborn to listen to orders."

Despite his surprise, Tony rallied quickly. "Not one of your soldiers, Captain."

"You're one of _mine_, regardless of whether or not you're a soldier!" Steve snapped, pressing right up against Tony.

That was _awfully_ close, and Steve didn't even seem to notice judging from the way he was glaring down at Tony.

So deflect…

"Careful there, Cap," Tony said lightly, leaning back against the table in an effort to put some space between them. "One might think you actually care."

"You—" Steve did something completely unexpected. He kissed Tony, hands clutching at Tony's neck and pulling him right into his face.

Flailing for a moment, Tony made a questioning sound into Steve's mouth, something that might have been a "What?" if it had gone anywhere but into Steve's mouth. After a moment, he put his hands on Steve's elbows and leaned into the kiss.

No sooner had he done so did Steve break it off, jerking out of Tony's reach and looking completely appalled. "I'm sorry – so sorry—"

Snorting, Tony grabbed hold of Steve by the uniform – no easy feat considering how skintight it was – and hauled him back in. "Shut up and kiss me again."

Stunned into compliance, Steve did.

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**I couldn't do the punching route, so I just went with a fight.**


	4. Underwater Kiss I

**Oh God, I COULD DO SO MANY THINGS WITH THIS ONE. But I'll go with the fancier version of it. Unless you want the other one as well?**

**For nightwalker!**

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**Underwater Kiss I**

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Steve had always heard stories about mermaids. The most famous probably being Andersen's _The Little Mermaid_, even if the original had made him cry like a baby the first time he'd heard it. Disney's version just didn't compare, even with the happy ending.

So, yes, Steve had heard stories about mermaids. But that didn't mean he'd _believed_ them.

Until he'd fallen off the cruise ship he'd been working on with Bucky. It was his own fault for being out there during a thunderstorm. And it was his own damn fault for seeing something in the water and thinking it was someone who'd fallen overboard. He'd gotten the lifebuoy and was going to throw it overboard when a particularly fierce of gust of wind blew him right over the railing and sent him hurtling head first into the choppy water.

All the air punched out Steve's lungs with the contact, the water too dark for him to tell which way was up to safety. Going up and hitting the ship would _not_ be a good idea.

Lightning flashed, and Steve jerked back in shock upon seeing another person right next to him. He had dark eyes and hair, his mouth framed by a goatee. He was also looking right at Steve with an implacable expression.

Steve closed his eyes, thinking he'd been hallucinating, and was about to try and swim for the surface to get some air when he felt something grab hold of his wrists.

His lungs burned as he exhaled air that he didn't have in a surprised burst of bubbles, and his eyes snapped open, stinging in the salt water.

The other person that he'd seen was even closer now, his face mere inches from Steve's and all the clearer for it. Now Steve could see that his eyes were brown and filled with a startlingly clever intelligence.

He felt something scaly and cold slip between his legs, and his eyes drifted closed again even as he felt lips press against his own, parting them gently with a warm tongue.

That was when Steve reached his limit, and his body reflexively tried to heave in air. Steve struggled, expecting water to hit his lungs, but instead there was air - air coming from the other man's mouth as he breathed oxygen into Steve.

Clutching at the other man's arms and only vaguely surprised to feel something scaly and fin-like meet his fingers, Steve simply floated there, held tight by the strange man and letting him breathe for him, mouths pressed together.

Later, much later after Steve had been found floating on a piece of driftwood by the crew of a passing ship and Bucky had reunited with him, Steve would look out at the ocean and wonder about the strange man who had saved his life.

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**Because we could do with more mermaid!AUs! Also, this is a much longer tale than what I've got here, but it's just a kissing scene.**


	5. Underwater Kiss II

**For nightwalker!**

**She wanted the non-fantasy version of the underwater kiss.**

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**Underwater Kiss II**

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Tony didn't like water. That didn't mean he couldn't take a bath or go soak in a whirlpool, but he didn't like it. It took him months to work past the fear of water that Afghanistan had instilled in him, but he'd managed it in the end because he liked taking baths and swimming in a pool and he would be damned if he let a bunch of terrorists take that away from him.

So he didn't like water, but he didn't tell anyone else that he didn't like water either. Rhodey knew; he'd been around Tony when he'd desensitized himself, but he hadn't told anyone because he was Tony's best friend and knew when to keep his mouth shut.

That meant that when Steve asked Tony to come with him to the pool, he did so guilelessly, with absolutely no prior knowledge of Tony's past with water. And Tony revealed nothing else, going to root out one of his many bathing suits.

The pool water was warm from the sun, and Tony didn't go in immediately, instead just letting it soak his legs as he watched Steve swim lap after lap.

Soon Steve came to a stop on the wall where Tony was sitting, resting his arms on the warm stones and looking up at Tony with a lazy half smile. "You gonna join me?"

"I don't know." Tony returned his smile, eyes tracking the water droplets on Steve's blond hair. "You going to give me something if I do?"

Steve's grin was like quicksilver, his hands curling around Tony's ankles. "Always the businessman," he teased.

"That's me," Tony agreed, not bothering to move.

"I think," Steve said slowly, fingers stroking up and down Tony's ankles, "that I can make it worth your while."

Lowering himself in the water, Tony braced himself on Steve's broad shoulders, giving him a lascivious smile. "You think so, do you?"

"I do," Steve assured him, eyes growing dark.

That was all the warning Tony had before Steve dunked him.

Spluttering, Tony came up a second later, glaring at Steve. "What are you - five?"

"Just having some fun," Steve said shamelessly, grinning brightly.

"I'll show you fun." Tony threw himself onto Steve, dunking both of them into the water.

Steve could throw him off easily, but he didn't. His arms went around Tony, bringing him closer. His face was remarkably clear to Tony's eyes, only several inches separating them.

Within a moment, Steve closed the distance, pressing his lips to Tony's and parting them to tangle his tongue with Tony's, kissing him deeply, sweetly.

Tony barely noticed when they broke the surface, too engrossed in Steve's mouth.

Steve broke the kiss a moment later, murmuring against Tony's lips, "Worth your while?"

Tony pecked him quickly, lips curling up into a soft smile. "I don't know… I might need some more…persuasion."

"I can do that," Steve said, leaning in again to draw Tony into a deep kiss.

* * *

**They paid no attention to Clint's disgusted exclamations, and everyone gave the pool a wide berth after that. Clint demanded they clean the water.**


	6. Nose Kiss

**This one's for nightwalker (onemuseleft on tumblr)! Nose kisses are something I love to write...**

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**Nose Kiss**

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"I'm not sick."

"Sure you aren't."

"I'm not. I'm just slightly warm."

"You're always warm."

"I get the feeling you're patronizing me."

"Never patronizing." Steve stroked a hand through Tony's sweaty hair, gently scraping his fingernails against Tony's scalp. He knew the other man had a slight headache.

"I'm not sick," Tony sighed again, huddled in a mound of blankets with only his head poking out. His face was flushed with a slight fever, eyes unhealthily bright.

"Just rest," Steve said, dropping to give Tony's nose a soft kiss that made the other man scrunch up his face.

"I'm in bed."

Steve returned his attention his book, continuing to stroke through Tony's hair. "Sleep, Tony."

"Not sleepy," Tony mumbled, huddling down deeper into the blankets. He pressed closer to Steve, breaths coming slower and slower until they evened out.

Smiling slightly, Steve wrapped an arm around his definitely sick boyfriend and continued to read. It was raining outside, but he was warm and comfortable right where he was.

He pressed another kiss to Tony's forehead, checking his temperature as he did.

Slightly sick, but getting better. Steve could deal with that.

For now, they would just rest.


	7. Hot, Steamy Kiss

***fans self* Don't know how steamy this one is. And if the site dares to take this story off AGAIN...**

**This one's for ravenwolf35, who specifically asked for Steve/Tony and #1 on the list.**

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**Hot, Steamy Kiss**

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"Tony," Steve moaned, shifting restlessly under him. "Stop - stop teasing."

Tony stopped what he'd been doing, which wasn't what Steve had wanted. He instead looked up to give Steve a grin. "Teasing, love? You've haven't seen anything if you think this is teasing."

"Just—" Steve pulled Tony up, wanting him closer - just wanting more and unable to figure out how to get it.

Tony understood, stroking gentle hands down Steve's quivering sides. "Shh. I've got you."

"Just kiss me," Steve managed, pressing his head back into the ridiculously soft pillow.

"Like this?" Tony pressed a gentle kiss to Steve's pulse point.

Steve whimpered, hand moving down to hold Tony tightly. His other clenched the bed sheets tightly. "Tony," he panted.

"I've got it," Tony assured him, then he finally moved up and dipped his head to give Steve a dizzyingly deep kiss that left him breathless and aching for more.

He whined, pressing up for more, parting his lips and pushing into Tony's mouth. His hands clutched at Tony's neck, keeping him right there as Steve sucked desperately at Tony's tongue, needing this, needing more.

Tony melted into him, mouth hot and pliant over Steve's, although it didn't stay that way. He withdrew slightly, nipped Steve's lower lip as he whined again in protest, and then he pressed in again, one hand tracing down Steve's side and curving over his thigh to cup under his knee, lifting it up. Steve arched into him, clutching Tony around the waist with his legs as the other continued kissing him, continued sucking all the oxygen out of his lungs.

"You're too much," Tony said breathlessly, drawing away from Steve to catch his breath. "Too much—"

Steve said nothing - couldn't say anything - and he instead let his lips do the talking for him, reaching up to kiss Tony again and again, letting the dizzying warmth take him to new heights.

Later, sweaty and sated and curled up with Tony, Steve buried his face in Tony's hair and breathed in the smell of sex and heat and Tony and let it pull him under into warm darkness.


	8. Upside-Down Kiss

**For sweetchick621! A "Spider-Man kiss."**

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**Upside-Down Kiss**

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"I just want to let you know," Tony said firmly, "that this is not my fault."

Steve gaped, unable to do much else. "What."

"See, there's this kid - I don't know if you know him - goes by Spider-Man? - and he had a little accident with his web shooters—"

"How does that end up with you hanging upside down from the ceiling?" Steve managed, looking up at his boyfriend, who was indeed hanging upside down from the ceiling. He looked rather defensive about his position, his arms crossed over his chest as his ankles were strung up by a delicate but strong web.

"Parkour," Tony said sulkily, not bothering to elaborate.

"I don't know what that means," Steve said, restraining the urge to pinch his nose between his fingers.

Tony waved a dismissive hand, looking even odder for doing so while upside down. "Doesn't matter. You think you can get me down?"

Steve cocked his head to the side. "I don't know." He grinned slowly. "I'm kind of enjoying the view."

"Of me getting gradually dizzier and dizzier from the blood rushing to my brain?"

"No." Steve stepped up to Tony, reaching up to tangle his fingers in Tony's messy hair and steady him. It was weird looking at Tony like this, but Steve didn't let that deter him. He leaned in, standing slightly taller so that he could reach Tony's lips.

He tried to keep it chaste, but Tony was almost impossible to deal with.

Moments later, Steve broke apart from Tony with a rough gasp, blinking rapidly and lips tingling. It had felt odd to kiss like that, but nice.

"Okay." Tony was also blinking rapidly and looking rather dazed. "That was totally hot, and I'm all for doing it again, but can you let me down before I faint?"

"I should get that on tape," Steve managed, leaning in for another kiss, keeping his one chaste before he put his hands under Tony's shoulder blades and lifted up, positioning him vertically to help with the blood flow. "Better?"

"Much," Tony said, hands coming down to Steve's shoulders. "Now let me down, because staring at the ceiling is going to get boring."

Looking for a knife to give to Tony, Steve decided to try this out again. Next time preferably on a bed and with both of them horizontal.

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**I could've gone with something else, but I decided to do this.**


	9. Knee Kiss

**For kurowrites, who is definitely not milking it because her prompts are damn cute.**

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**Knee Kiss**

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They'd been watching a movie alone. Clint and Natasha were out on a "date" for a mission that involved them being all romantic and gushy with each other (Tony wasn't sure why and asking would lead to Natasha giving him that look and Clint polishing his bow in unusual places), Thor was with Jane in some romantic restaurant, Steve's new friend Sam had other obligations (namely commiserating with Rhodey and getting drunk), and Bruce was holed up in his lab on pain of death because he had an experiment that was likely to explode and this was the third time he'd started it.

So it was just Tony and Steve, and they were curled up on the couch watching some movie JARVIS had pulled up for them upon asking. It looked like Zathura, but a newer one with a very emotional Kirsten Stewart. That girl's talents were wasted on drivel like Twilight.

"Be nice, Tony," Steve murmured, and maybe he'd said that last bit out loud.

"You can't tell me you enjoyed that goddamn movie," Tony grumbled, giving Steve the stink-eye from where he was cuddled up on Steve's chest.

"It had its moments," Steve said charitably, noticeably not saying what these moments were.

"Yeah, no. That whole thing was garbage from start to finish and I'm still not over Thor making us watch that."

"It had shirtless guys."

"Steve." Tony made sure to sound as wounded as he could. "If it's shirtless guys that have your attention, I could do it all day."

"Sweaty, shirtless guys."

"How long do you think it'll take me to get sweaty?"

"Sweaty, shirtless guys that run around in the woods and turn into wolves."

Tony slapped a smirking Steve in the chest. "You stop it."

Steve blinked innocently at him. "I thought you liked my mouth?"

"Not if it's uttering obscenities that praise **Twilight**," Tony said.

Steve pursed his lips, shrugging once. "Too bad." Then he turned his attention back to the movie, where an astronaut had just turned into Josh Hutcherson and apparently now the Kirsten Stewart character was shocked about crushing on her little brother (Tony could see why).

Tony wasn't having it. He pulled away from Steve, only to swing back around to straddle the other's hips. Steve's hands came down automatically to brace him. "I don't think so," he purred, voice dropping to a near whisper.

Steve looked up at him through hooded eyes. "You really want to start this, Tony?" he asked, lips quirking into a sly smile.

"I think," Tony said slowly, hands tracing down over Steve's shoulders and then his sides, coming to a stop at the fringes of his shirt, "that I really, definitely do."

Steve looked up at him for a moment more before breaking into a shit-eating grin that took Tony's breath away. "Your loss," he cheerfully informed Tony, and in one second he'd flipped Tony onto his back and was tickling him mercilessly.

Tony wheezed in helpless laughter, squirming to get away from Steve. "St-Steve! St-stop it!" He tried in vain to get Steve's hands to stop, but the other was relentless, hands seeking out each and every sensitive point Tony had and then some.

"Give up?" Steve asked, still tickling Tony.

Breath hitching in laughter and tears trickling from his eyes, Tony grinned breathlessly up at Steve. "Never."

Steve just shrugged. "Okay." Then he yanked Tony's shirt up and continued tickling him, but this time on bare skin.

Tony lasted all of two minutes before begging Steve to please just stop, all the while giggling helplessly.

Eventually Steve did, hands effortlessly transitioning from tickling Tony mercilessly to stroking soothing patterns on Tony's hypersensitive skin. "Am I free to praise Twilight now?"

"I will invent a tickling machine just for you if you ever dare to do so again," Tony informed him breathlessly, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

"Somehow," Steve said, hands cupping under Tony's knees, and bringing his legs up, "I don't doubt that."

"Are you going to do anything?" Tony asked, bringing his hands up over his head. He was fully aware of what this position did for Steve, and he felt a wave of satisfaction and warmth roll through him as he saw Steve's eyes darken.

"I might." Steve bent over, kissing Tony's stomach. He nosed at Tony's navel, kissed the strip of skin right above his sweatpants, and then he tilted to the side to kiss Tony's knee, which was so damn weird since it was still covered in a smelly pair of sweatpants that hadn't been washed in a week.

"You're so weird," Tony said, grinning dopily up at Steve.

"I'm your weirdo," Steve told him, returning that grin and leaning in for a warm kiss that Tony gladly returned.

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**So much fluff... Drowning in fluff...**

**Not sorry for the Twilight bashing. But Zathura is a pretty good movie.**


	10. Kiss on the Hand

**For an anonymous prompter, who was offended by the lack of a hand kiss on the meme and prompted it regardless. Also for marmotje, who happened to request it around the same time as the anon. :3**

**You can be outrageously offended, and you can go and prompt it anyway. :D**

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**Kiss on the Hand**

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This Halloween Tony had dressed as a vampire. Simply because people needed to remember Dracula and not that sparkly vampire crap that was going around nowadays. Besides, vampires were where it was at, not zombies or werewolves or whatever else YA lit was touting nowadays.

So he'd gone all out for the costume, including the pale makeup and the authentic fangs and the contact lenses that gave his eyes a reddish sheen. He'd also gone for that dramatic black cape and standing collar because he did have a weakness for grandstanding, and he wasn't ashamed to admit it.

So when he arrived at the party the Avengers had arranged for Halloween, he was fashionably late and could take his time looking at what the others had pulled together.

Clint had actually dressed up as Katniss and looked completely comfortable in the wig and was chatting comfortably with Sam, who'd come dressed up as Kevin Flynn from Tron, which earned him loads of brownie points.

Natasha was at the bar with James Buchanan Barnes, who Steve had managed to drag home two months ago. Natasha had dressed up as Harley Quinn, and her new bestie was the Joker, although the painted-on grin looked strange with his grim face. His eyes kept flickering around the room, landing on Tony for a moment before his attention returned to Natasha.

Rhodey, secretly being a Star Trek geek, had pulled out his captain's uniform and was proudly wearing it next to Pepper's stylish witch costume. Bruce was next to them, dressed in what looked like Dr. Jekyll, which had been Tony's gag gift last year for Halloween.

Thor was Thor and had procured a costume that left nothing to the imagination, with only his delicate bits covered in a golden…thong-like bit. Jane was next to him and looked a bit like she was holding back giggles at her boyfriend's attire; she'd dressed as Princess Leia. Darcy was admiring Thor's physique and was dressed as Han Solo.

That left Steve, and Tony was very pleased to find his partner wearing a Captain Jack Harkness uniform; the coat suited him particularly well, although Steve looked vaguely uncomfortable where he was sitting on the couch. He brightened upon seeing Tony, who'd already started making his way towards him.

"Oh, Captain, come here often?" Tony asked, grinning down at him. His fangs pierced his lower lip.

"Not as often as you do," Steve replied coyly, grinning back at him.

Tony held back a snort of laughter, his grin turning sly. "Oh?" he purred, taking Steve's hand in his own. "Perhaps that can be…remedied?" He planted a delicate kiss on the back of Steve's hand, looking up at him sultrily through his eyelashes.

A light blush covered Steve's cheeks, and his fingers curled around Tony's. "Maybe later?" he suggested.

Tony flashed him a lazy grin, leaning in close to whisper into Steve's ear and relishing the delighted shudder it elicited, "What's wrong with now?"

Mindful of his fangs, Tony dipped in for a kiss, hand coming up to Steve's chin to tilt his face up.

The kiss was completely worth Bucky "accidentally" dumping all his liquor down Tony's collar minutes later.

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**I fail at writing flirty lines or pickup lines. I fail at writing Jack Harkness and Tony's suaveness. I fail in general. Sorry.**

**Also, want more of these? Prompt me!**


	11. Goofy Kiss

**For milkyetoile, who had a desperate urge for a goofy kiss.**

**I am still taking prompts! Consider it open until all of them have been filled! :)**

**And thanks to onemuseleft, whenever I see the words "goofy kiss" my mind instantly goes to Goofy from Disney and now what I have seen cannot be unseen.**

**(Psst, kurowrites, this is what you do, not torture poor innocent characters.)**

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**Goofy Kiss**

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The Avengers usually didn't go to an amusement park. For one, it usually ended in mass crowds and people begging them for an autograph. Two, a mission alert would often go off in the middle of the event and then they'd have to leave and Hulk would be particularly vicious in the following battle and refuse to turn back to Bruce because he still wanted that cotton candy.

So it had been a while since the last time they'd gone to an amusement park, but things were different now. Steve had found this guy named Sam Wilson, who was quite frankly awesome and got on like a house on fire with Rhodey and practically everybody else Tony knew. Steve had also found his long lost friend Bucky, and after some screaming and shouting and a whole lot of shooting, Bucky had been assimilated (ha ha, assimilated, get it? …Shut up, Clint!) into the Avengers and was relatively more easygoing, although there were still dark days where he jumped at every person and was too happy with a knife.

In lieu of their two new members and the amusement park opening on Coney Island, Steve had proposed an outing, this time with disguises so they wouldn't be harangued by the people. He'd also wheedled the Fantastic Four into taking any calls, so they could enjoy the day unless some villain specifically targeted the amusement park (Tony pitied whoever did, because Hulk would put them down in five seconds flat and then go after some cotton candy).

As pretty much everyone had no objections to going out and enjoying the park, they all managed to find some disguises. Tony put a cover on the reactor and then went for a baseball cap and sunglasses; he wasn't going to wear anything else in this sweltering heat. Steve didn't really need anything to cover his face, as his face was generic enough (despite how ridiculously handsome and gorgeous he was) that no one would look twice at him as long as he kept the clothes casual.

Natasha and Clint both procured wigs and ended up looking like hippies.

In his human clothes, Thor was virtually unrecognizable, so he didn't have anything else. The same for Bruce and Sam. And since Bucky was still relatively unknown and prostheses weren't uncommon, all he did was cover the red star on his metal arm and he was good to go.

They took two of Tony's most discreet cars, which wasn't saying much considering how obvious they still were, but Tony just plain refused to take the subway, all too clearly remembering what had happened the last time when he'd had all the senses of a cat.

Steve still hadn't managed to drag Tony down there because even though Tony didn't have the ability of a cat to hide from everyone, he was clever enough that he could evade all people in his house (including the super spies) for 24 hours. As long as JARVIS didn't tattle on him, but his AI was on his side when it came to subways.

The amusement park was crowded when they finally arrived and parked, and they separated practically instantly, Clint and Natasha wandering off to do their own thing, Thor grabbing Bruce and dragging him to the roller coasters much to Bruce's alarm, and Sam snagging Bucky and pulling him to the rigged shooter games. He also gave Steve and Tony a wink and a wave.

Tony blinked at him, looking up at Steve suspiciously. "What was that about?"

"Nothing." Steve smiled at him, linking their fingers together and squeezing. "Where do you want to go first?"

Tony peered at him suspiciously for a moment longer before giving it up as a lost cause. "I'd say roller coasters, but I don't think that's a good idea at the moment."

"I've got it," Steve said, already pulling Tony after him.

Ten minutes later they ended up in a house of mirrors, and Tony found himself making faces at his oddly shaped reflections. The physics in these kinds of houses always intrigued him, and he delighted in finding the best spots to really get the oddest reflections. It also ended up in Steve nearly falling over from laughing, so that was a bonus.

After that Steve pulled Tony over to one of those games where if you knocked down a bunch of bottles, you won a stuffed toy. Steve had Tony turn around for this one, telling him to close his eyes.

Giving the other a suspicious look, Tony did so, keeping his ears open for any tell-tale sounds. A moment later, he heard the sounds of a bunch of bottles being knocked over to the sounds of the crowd clapping excitedly.

Fidgeting impatiently, Tony tilted his head to the side, trying to make out anything else and nearly jumping out of his skin when someone wrapped an arm around his shoulders. It ended up being Steve, but Tony's heart still pounded frantically in his chest from the fright.

"Sorry." Steve did look apologetic, and he also had a large cat plushie in his hands that he immediately pushed into Tony's arms.

Tony peered down at it. "Very fluffy."

"It reminded me of you," Steve said, blushing slightly. He darted in to give Tony a kiss on the nose and then drew back, hand tightening around Tony's and dragging him off again.

This time they ended up standing in line, and Tony noticed in a second that this one was for the Ferris wheel.

"Wow, really?" Tony craned his head back to look at it.

Steve just smiled shyly at him, thumb stroking the skin on the back of Tony's hand. He didn't seem to mind the heat and Tony's very sweaty palms.

Refraining from the dozen cracks he could make but didn't, Tony just waited patiently for their turn on the wheel, not even saying anything when Steve pressed a kiss in Tony's sweaty hair (how was that possibly nice for him?).

About half an hour later, during which Steve went off in search of food and then returned with some hot dogs and cotton candy to snack on, they were almost due to go on. Tony had just finished the last of his cotton candy, Steve smearing most of it over his lips in a fit of glee, when an employee ushered them forward and into an empty car.

There was no question about them sitting next to each other, and Steve snuggled up to Tony practically instantly, molding himself to Tony's side and pressing his lips to Tony's temple.

"I've got to be ridiculously smelly by now," Tony said, making a face.

"I didn't notice," Steve said, and there wasn't a hint of a lie in his voice. He gave Tony a silly smile and kissed him again, this time on the lips.

"You're unusually chipper," Tony said after a moment.

Steve squeezed Tony warmly, ducking his head slightly. "I'm just happy."

There was nothing Tony could say to that, but he felt his cheeks heat slightly in response. Swallowing, he looked away and out the window just as the ride kicked into gear, slowly sending their car higher and higher into the sky.

"The first time I was here," Steve started slowly, "it was with Bucky. He had me ride the Cyclone." He smiled wistfully at the memory, pressing his cheek to the side of Tony's head. "I threw up."

Tony snorted, barely holding back the laughter. "That's a memory."

"It was fun, aside from the throwing up."

"I bet you wouldn't throw up this time."

"I'm not too keen on doing it again," Steve admitted, "but Bucky'll probably drag me onto it before we leave just for revenge." His grip tightened slightly, and he inhaled deeply, pressing another kiss into Tony's hair.

Sighing, Tony relaxed into Steve, closing his eyes momentarily. He took the baseball cap off, needing some air. He ran his fingers through the strands, mussing them up.

Steve joined in a moment later, ruffling the back of Tony's head with a wicked grin.

"No messing with the merchandise!" Tony slapped his hands away, but he was grinning too much for it to sting.

"What if I'm going to buy it anyway?" Steve pushed up close to him, practically nose to nose with Tony.

"You can't buy me," Tony managed, eyes crossing as he focused on Steve's really blue ones.

"I don't want to." Steve gave a stunned Tony one beaming smile before giving him a big smooch on his nose, one that was more tongue than anything else.

"Ergh, Steve!" Tony pushed him back, wiping at his face. "What are you – a dog?"

"For a few days, yes," Steve answered completely seriously, and then he dipped in again for another wet smooch, but this one landed on Tony's hand as he blocked it.

"No tongue!"

"I thought you liked my tongue?"

"I'm all gross!"

"I don't care." Steve managed to land a kiss on Tony's cheek, nosing the corner of Tony's eye as he did, his smile so wide that Tony could feel it pressing into his skin.

"Oh my God, you are hopeless." Tony grabbed Steve's face and pulled him in for a kiss that was all tongue and completely graceless because they were both grinning too much for it to be anything but ridiculous.

"I don't mind being hopeless," Steve managed when they broke apart, "not if it gives me this." He nosed at the corner of Tony's mouth, kissing him gently a moment later. "And look…" His voice was soft. "The ride's stopped."

Steve picked himself up to give Tony enough room to also sit up and look. The ride had stopped, and that afforded them quite a view of the park and the island. But that wasn't the best part.

No, the best part was the softly smiling man hovering above Tony.

Tony felt the now familiar rumbling in his chest start, and he smiled up at Steve when the sound made him look at Tony. "I like the view from here just fine."

"Yeah." Steve leaned in, pressing a long kiss to Tony's lips, smiling into it. "Me, too."

* * *

**This can be seen as a continuation of sorts to Oh, Purrfect (Or Alternatively "Damn it, Richards!").**

**Also, my teeth hurt from writing this. So much fluff...**


	12. Kiss on the Temple

**Kogouma asked for a kiss on the temple! :)**

* * *

**Kiss on the Temple**

* * *

"Hey, sleeping beauty."

Steve murmured something under his breath, nuzzling into Tony's neck and sighing.

"You getting up anytime soon, sweetheart?" Tony planted a soft kiss in Steve's hair, hiding a smile when that earned him a grumble and Steve twining their legs together.

It probably shouldn't be as funny as it was, but Steve was usually up at six for a morning run, so the way he was insisting on sleeping right now even though it was nine was hilarious. But to be fair, Steve had just come off a three day mission where he couldn't sleep except for cat-naps. Clint had informed Tony that it was very inspirational, although slightly nerve-wracking watching someone go on so many hours of no sleep.

Steve's hand flexed under Tony, and he nosed into Tony's neck, mouth forming shapeless words against sleep-warm skin.

The message was clear: Steve wasn't getting up anytime soon.

"All right." Tony nosed through his hair, pressing a warm kiss to Steve's temple and smiling when that resulted in Steve burrowing closer into him.

"Tony…?" Steve's voice was muffled against his neck, blurry with sleep.

"Go back to sleep, sweetheart." Tony pressed another kiss to his temple, stroking soothingly up and down Steve's back.

With a contented sigh, Steve did.

Resting his cheek on Steve's head, Tony closed his eyes and drifted.


	13. Spine-Tingling Kisses

**Mystery_Penman asked for kisses on the spine.**

* * *

**Spine-Tingling Kisses**

* * *

Tony woke up slowly, not quite sure what had pulled him out of his warm dream that was slowly slipping out of his fingers. He could no longer quite remember what it had been about, but he had the faint feeling that it involved Steve and smoothies.

He felt a soft pair of lips press against the base of his spine, right at the small of his back. The lips slowly moved up, pressing gentle kisses against every single knob of his spine, sending tingles through Tony's nerves. He shivered lightly, arching up slightly into that spine-tingling touch.

The kisses didn't stop; they trailed all the way up to Tony's neck and into his nape, where they stopped. A nose pressed into his skin, nuzzling into it. Another, longer kiss followed, and a warm weight pressed itself against Tony.

Tony sighed, turning his head, not opening his eyes. A pair of lips met his own, parting his gently until a warm tongue pushed in, gently drawing out a soft sigh from Tony. Slowly opening his eyes, Tony met a pair of warm blue eyes that were crinkled at the corners.

Steve drew back, smiling against Tony's lips. "Good morning," he whispered.

Tony smiled back, feeling the curve of Steve's lips against his own. "It is."

"I love you," Steve murmured.

Whatever reply Tony might have had was lost in Steve's lips as the other wrapped himself around him and coaxed him awake. But he was sure that his lips were conveying it properly to Steve.

_I love you._


	14. Eyelid Kiss

**sierra451 asked for a kiss on the eyelid. Some angst crept into this one, but not much. Sorry?**

* * *

**Kiss on the Eyelid**

* * *

Eyes were so delicate. They were two of the body's most important organs, and they were so damn vulnerable even though they were right _there_.

It fascinated Tony. And now it quite frankly terrified him because some _idiot_ had gone and decided it was a brilliant idea to drop acid on _Captain America's eyeballs_. And the guy hadn't even been aiming for Steve; he'd been aiming for Tony, and Steve had just gotten in the way because that was what Steve did.

Tony wasn't sure if he could forgive him for doing that.

"He's a super soldier," Bruce assured him in the hospital's waiting room. "His healing is off the charts. He'll be fine."

"That doesn't make me feel better," Tony said tightly, arms folded across his chest as if he could stop the panic from clawing its way out.

Bruce said nothing else, but he did rub comforting circles in Tony's shoulder. He'd already given the doctors all they help they needed; now they were just treating Steve's eyes. From all appearances he would be fine, but Tony needed to _see_.

Half an hour later, they were finally given the green light to go inside Steve's room. Tony made a direct beeline for the bed once inside, commandeering the chair next to Steve and taking a tight hold of his hand.

Steve squeezed back instantly, smiling comfortingly in his direction even though his eyes were wrapped up in bandages and he couldn't see a thing. "Hey, Tony…"

"You don't get to 'hey, Tony' me right now," Tony said sharply, hand flexing around Steve's. "I'm really upset with you."

Steve was still smiling. "I know."

"You shouldn't have done it."

"I always will."

"I'm pissed off."

"You have every right to be." Steve reached out, hand wavering slightly before he managed to touch Tony's cheek. "But I'm not sorry for what I did. I'd do it over again if I had to."

Tony blinked back tears, blinked back hundreds of calculations and facts about eyes and acid burns and possibilities. "You don't get to say that. Not while you're lying in bed with acid burns to your fucking _eyeballs_ because you took the fall for me."

Steve's thumb comfortingly stroked Tony's cheek. He said nothing else, simply stroking Tony's cheek.

A few seconds later, Steve shifted, freeing his other hand to cup Tony's face and draw it forwards. Then, so gentle that he might as well have been touching a butterfly, his lips pressed against Tony's right eyelid. A moment later, he did the second. Then his lips pressed against Tony's forehead.

"No one gets to hurt you," Steve said quietly, his breath a warm wash on Tony's skin.

Tony lasted all of five seconds before he let out a broken sob and clutched at Steve's hands, dropping his head until it rested against Steve's collarbone.

"It's okay," Steve said softly, thumbs rubbing circles into Tony's temples. "It's okay."

And several days later, when Steve's bandages came off and he blinked open blessedly clear blue eyes that focused on Tony's almost immediately, Tony pressed his own, infinitely gentle kisses to Steve's eyelids, and he knew it would be okay.


	15. Jawline Kiss

**sierra451 asked for a jawline kiss. :)**

* * *

**Jawline Kiss**

* * *

It was eight in the morning and Steve was reading the newspaper and eating an omelet. Clint sat opposite him, drowsily stirring a spoon in his cereal and squinting at the crossword. As Natasha wasn't around to sneak in the right answers, Clint wasn't doing very well.

"What thirteen-letter word do people who hate black cats not like to use?" Clint mumbled around the eraser of the pencil.

Steve thought for a moment, mentally counting the letters of all the words he could think of that would fit that category.

"Superstitious," Tony's voice said from behind him. He rested a hand on Steve's shoulder, planting a soft kiss on top of Steve's head. "Morning, babe."

Steve stopped him before he could head to the coffee machine, drawing him down for a longer kiss and then making a face at the grease he could taste on Tony's lips. "Did you stick something in your mouth again?"

Tony looked a bit confused and too tired, that overactive brain whirring overtime to think about the question. "Maybe?"

"Take a shower," Steve told him, planting one more kiss on Tony's jawline and stroking the black shadows under Tony's left eye with a thumb. "And then go to bed."

Tony shot him a sultry look that was in no way lessened by the shadows under his eyes. "You gonna join me?"

"Take a shower," Steve repeated, a small smile playing at his lips, "and maybe I will."

"I have a nine-letter word for what you two are, and it's 'sickening,'" Clint informed them.

"I have a two-word answer for what you should consider doing, and it's 'back off,'" Tony fired back just as quickly, not looking away from Steve. He dipped down, gave Steve a kiss on the nose, and then sauntered out of the kitchen, throwing over his shoulder in a sing-song voice, "I'm holding you to that, Captain!"

Steve just remained sitting there for several minutes, well aware that he probably had a silly grin on his face. Clint gave him a thoroughly unimpressed look for all of a minute before heaving a resigned sigh and returning to his crossword puzzle.

When Natasha came in five minutes later and promptly informed Clint that he had gotten every word wrong except for "superstitious," Steve decided it was time he go to bed and cuddle with Tony. There hadn't been enough cuddling lately, and it was time he rectify that.


	16. Wedding Kiss

**lab_girl asked for a wedding kiss. :)**

* * *

**Wedding Kiss**

* * *

"God, I can't do this," Tony muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"You're going to ruin your makeup," Pepper hissed, slapping his hands away. "Now take a deep breath and relax. You want this, and you can do this. Now go and meet Steve. You can't start walking down the aisle without him."

"No, no, see, it's a mistake. He's going to wake up one day and realize it was all a giant mistake and then he'll leave and I'll be left all alone and—" He was shut up by a ribbon that Pepper stuffed into his mouth.

"Quiet now?" Pepper poked him in the chest. "You will be fine, Tony. Steve loves you, you love him, and he's not going to wake up one day and take it back. Stop over thinking things and just go with the flow."

"I've been telling him that from day one," Rhodey said from the other side of the room. "You think that's gonna do any good now?"

"You be quiet," Pepper told him, holding a hand up to forestall any further protests. She spoke again to Tony. "Do you think either of us would have gone through all this way if we thought Steve would leave you in the lurch like that?"

Tony spat out the ribbon, the panic subsiding slightly. "You would've stopped it?" His voice was uncertain.

"Hell yeah," Rhodey said, coming up behind Pepper now. "You're my best bud, Tony." He clapped Tony on the upper arm, squeezing once before letting his hand drop. "And Steve loves you. A complete stranger can see it."

"Okay." Tony took a deep breath, nodding once. "Okay," he repeated, feeling slightly calmer.

"Okay?" Pepper's face softened, and she leaned in to kiss his cheek. "Go out in two minutes, and just remember that everything will be fine."

"Focus on the eyes," Rhodey added, and he promptly looked up at the ceiling when Pepper and Tony gave him strange looks.

Two minutes later, Pepper and Rhodey had left the room and Tony was standing next to Steve, preparing to walk down the aisle.

He didn't have any time to talk or fidget, because at that point the wedding march started, and Tony's heartbeat ratcheted up several notches because this was actually happening.

The rest of it was a blur except for Steve's eyes (because Rhodey's advice was actually some good; Tony was going to give him a really cool present) and Tony's own anxiety making his hands shake as he guided the ring onto Steve's finger. Steve's hands were also rather shaky, but they were steady enough as he guided the ring onto Tony's finger.

Then the priest said something along the lines of "Now you may kiss" and they leaned in at the exact same time, habit and practice making it easy to slot their lips together.

With the touch, Tony's nervousness washed away, and he felt Steve's fingers card through his hair and their left hands curl together, their new rings clinking against each other.

The applause registered only distantly in his mind, and Tony thought he heard a wolf whistle that could've been from either Clint or Sam.

But none of that mattered with Steve's warmth suffusing him.

All that mattered was Steve.

* * *

**And outside of this room, Steve is doing the exact same thing with Bucky, and Bucky is just telling him to get a grip and if Tony dares break his heart, that Bucky will give him exactly what's coming to him and that Steve should just go out there and kill it.**

**Steve doesn't think this particularly comforting but appreciates the sentiment.**


	17. Dangerous Kiss

**An anonymous reviewer asked for a "dangerous, mission kiss." I still have a few more of these left in my Inbox. :)**

* * *

**Dangerous Kiss**

* * *

It had been a _week_ since they'd taken Tony. A week without word beyond the trace JARVIS had managed to run and the people Natasha had been able to interrogate. A week without being able to sleep properly for fear that he wouldn't be able to see Tony again. A week of remorse and regret because he should have just _told him_, but Steve _didn't_, because he was a _fool_ and a _coward_.

So he snapped and barked and made a nuisance of himself. He knew that, but he couldn't help it. Natasha and Clint were giving him dangerous looks, but Bruce kept shooing them off, and Steve was simultaneously grateful and resentful. Because what he was doing wasn't right, but he couldn't _help_ himself.

He was sick with worry, and they _still hadn't found Tony_.

No, apparently Tony found them, because one night JARVIS blared an alert into all their rooms and blew up blurry images of a factory in the middle of Iowa simply exploding.

It was all the info they needed, and they were wheels up in ten, heading to Iowa.

They touched ground about an hour later, having broken the sound barrier, and by then the factory was still exploding at random points but largely intact.

Steve didn't hesitate to give the others their directions, and once they were inside it was pure chaos. Smoke filled the air, and he could hear shouting and screaming.

He stumbled across a lot of prone bodies, but no one conscious until he entered a large, cavernous room. That was where he found a dozen armored men facing down a single one who was holding what looked like a welding torch and a gun.

Nary two seconds later, Steve's flying shield took down half the men, two more went down to the welding torch, another one to the gun, and then Steve was down on the floor and taking out the remaining three.

"Steve?" Tony sounded breathless.

Steve whirled on him, stepped up close and just to the side of that sizzling welding torch, and pulled Tony in by the neck to give him a furious kiss.

It wasn't half as perfect as he'd pictured. Their noses slammed into each other and Tony bit down on Steve's lip, exhaling in surprise.

A violent explosion from outside the room had Steve jerking back, face flushing red in embarrassed mortification, and he crouched down to retrieve his shield to avoid looking Tony in the eyes.

After slotting his shield on his back, Steve marshaled his courage and turned to look Tony in the face.

The other had a dumbfounded look on his face, his mouth hanging half open. A second later, a pink tongue darted out to wet his lips, and the mouth closed. "So…ah…"

Under other circumstances, Steve would be proud to have rendered the great Tony Stark speechless.

"Rain check?" Tony asked finally, eyebrows arching. He licked his lips again, and Steve had to restrain himself from lunging in to give him another kiss.

Another loud explosion and the sounds of Natasha swearing in his earpiece jerked Steve out of his reverie, and he quickly agreed, "Rain check."

He was going to tell Tony next time. No more waiting.


	18. Kiss of Life

**Killer of Kings asked for a kiss of life, something to do with CPR, and "dangerous and heart wrenching."**

* * *

**Kiss of Life**

* * *

The sight of the Iron Man armor plummeting into the water of the harbor was what had Steve running, panic surging through every nerve. He bashed his way through poorly built robots and minions dressed like beekeepers, heedless of the shouts and warnings his teammates snapped into his earpiece.

All he could think was that _he needed to get to Tony._

It had been their third time assembling. The first time had been Loki, the second some crazy man calling himself Doctor Doom, and now this time was an organization called A.I.M. with a giant talking head at the forefront.

They hadn't taken it seriously, and that was where they'd gone wrong.

Not taking it seriously for the Avengers was still deadlier and more serious than anything the U.S. government could come out with, but it proved costly for them this time, because Tony was down, and he wasn't responding.

Steve dove into the murky water after the Iron Man suit without a second's thought, only briefly barking out an order for everyone to keep the damage contained and _just smash, Hulk!_ He had no doubt Hulk would do so after having seen Iron Man go down.

Yet his focus was on the suit and the man inside it. He had no idea what had happened to take out Tony's suit. All he'd seen was a brilliant ray of light right before Tony had gone down (he refused to think of the scream Tony'd let out – he _refused_).

He couldn't really see through the murky water, and he needed to see the light of the reactor. But with the weight of the suit, Tony would have headed straight to the bottom, so Steve kicked down, grateful beyond words for his durable lungs.

It was a spot of light in the dark, but it was exactly what Steve had been looking for. He gave one more forceful pull with his arms, one more dolphin kick with his legs, and then his hands touched cold metal, and his fingers curled around a solid arm.

Steve's lungs were beginning to burn now, but he ignored them to wrap an arm around the chest of the Iron Man suit. Then, pulling upwards, Steve began kicking.

The suit was heavy, but luckily the water made it lighter. There was no response from the man inside the suit, and that made Steve struggle all the harder for the surface.

When he finally reached it, Steve spat out a mouthful of disgusting river water and, coughing and spluttering, he heaved Tony up the rest of the way. The helmet lolled against Steve's shoulder, the man inside still completely unresponsive.

Breath hitching in panic, Steve started making for the deck, only peripherally aware that most of the fighting had stopped.

It wasn't until he heard a loud voice shout for his hand that Steve stopped swimming, only to raise his hand. A second later, a powerful grip clasped it and heaved both him and Tony out of the water.

Thor carried both of them to the deck, letting them drop gently as soon as he could. Steve landed with a soft roll, but Tony simply fell with a loud clanking of metal and lay there, motionless. With nothing more than sheer panic fueling his movements, Steve crawled the few feet to Tony and went for the latch to release the faceplate, popping it open to reveal a pale face.

Tony wasn't breathing – _he wasn't breathing_. Steve went to release the helmet, having enough mind to carefully slip it off Tony's head before casting it aside to check for Tony's pulse. He couldn't feel anything, although his hands were shaking too badly for him to be sure.

But Tony wasn't breathing, and that wasn't good.

There was a short Russian curse from behind him, and then Natasha dropped to her knees next to Steve, hands running over a breach in the suit that Steve hadn't noticed before.

Tony wasn't breathing, he wasn't breathing, and that meant someone needed to for him.

He vaguely heard Natasha say something about Thor shocking Tony's heart into life, but Steve wasn't paying attention.

Hands trembling, Steve reached down and pinched Tony's nose shut, his other hand gently opening Tony's mouth. He pressed his mouth to Tony's, puffing air into Tony's mouth and to his lungs. Several breaths, and then he pulled back to pull in more oxygen before repeating the process.

And again.

And again.

And next to him Thor had his hands on Tony's chest plate, lightning crackling from his fingertips and into Tony.

There was another low curse from Natasha, a loud roar from Hulk, and Steve heard Clint muttering promises under his breath _if Tony would just breathe on his own_.

Steve took another breath and pressed his lips to Tony's and _exhaled_, only this time he felt Tony jerk under his mouth, more than the reflexive twitches from Thor's little lightning bolts, and he pulled back in time to avoid getting splattered in the face by Tony coughing up disgusting river water.

It was the most beautiful sound Steve had ever heard in his life, and he wasted no time in scooping Tony up and clutching him to his chest, burying his face in sodden hair and whispering desperate prayers of thanks.

And in his arms, Tony breathed.


	19. Kiss on the Hip

**Sorry it took me a while to get around to this one; I was going in order of demand, and this one is now on my list. 3**  
**For milkyetoile, who asked for a kiss on "'kiss on the hips' SteveTony this time? Preferably with a bruise, wound or a scar."**

**Also, most of the text is taken from Guess How Much I Love You. by Sam McBratney. Kogouma, I hope this is fluffy enough for you.**

* * *

**Kiss on the Hip**

* * *

"You know how much I love you?" Steve mumbled into Tony's neck.

Tony hummed softly under his breath, slowly stretching under their warm blankets. "A lot?"

"So much." Steve pressed a warm kiss to the side of Tony's neck, nosing the spot a second later.

"So do I," Tony said, stroking a hand down Steve's back.

"Guess how much I love you," Steve said, rolling over on top of Tony. Most of his weight remained supported on his arms, but Tony could feel every inch of his strength and warmth and reveled in it.

Tony ran his hands up Steve's side, eventually interlacing them behind his neck. "Is this a trick question?"

Steve dropped down to peck Tony's lips. "This much," he whispered against his lips.

"One kiss?"

"I love you as high as I can reach." Steve pulled away from Tony, only to wiggle down and give Tony another kiss on the neck.

Tony craned his head back, giving Steve better access. "You're kinda lying down here, buddy."

"I love you all the way up to my toes." Steve brushed a kiss against Tony's collarbone, and then another right above the arc reactor. "I love you as high as I can hop."

Tony tried to pull Steve up to give him another kiss, but the other wouldn't budge. "Is that supposed to be code for something?"

Steve pushed the blankets back as he continued to wiggle down the length of Tony's body, kissing Tony's side and rubbing a hand up the other side. "I love you all the way down to the lane as far as the river."

Tony almost said there was no river or lane in sight, but Steve was leading up to something, so he kept quiet. But he didn't look away from Steve's eyes, and Steve didn't look away from him.

So gently that he might have been touching a butterfly, Steve pressed a soft kiss to Tony's hip, right on the extraordinarily large and painful bruise he had gotten from their fight this morning against the Wrecking Crew. "I love you," he whispered, "right up to the moon and back."

Tony swallowed a painfully thick lump in his throat, eyes stinging. "Steve." His voice cracked halfway through, and he tugged again at Steve, and this time the other moved.

"I love you," Steve said again, right before taking in Tony's unspoken _I love you_ in an achingly sweet kiss.


	20. Mistletoe Kiss

**Yes, I have returned! I still have requests lined up for this story, and if you guys want to see more, just drop a review or a PM to me and I'll see what I can do. :)**

**This one was requested by _TheLilyReviwer_, who admits that it's not Christmas but still wanted to see Steve and Tony under a mistletoe: **Okay, okay, I know it's nowhere NEAR Christmas, but what would happen if the Avengers (except Steve and Tony) put mistletoe all over the tower, then tried to get Tony and Steve in the same room? Pre-relationship is what I had in mind, but I leave that up to you. You are, after all, the one writing this.

* * *

**Chapter 20: Mistletoe Kiss**

* * *

There was snickering and what sounded like a stifled giggle coming from somewhere in the vents. Tony did not want to know why an assassin was giggling in the vents, but he had the suspicion that he was going to find out one way or another.

If only it didn't have anything to do with his almost nonexistent pride ("almost" being the key word here because he was _not_ a pushover, okay), but Tony wasn't holding out hope or anything. He'd given up on that the fifth time Natasha had delivered a truly awful joke in a deadpan voice and then sauntered off while leaving Tony gaping after her.

And he'd thought _Clint_ was going to be a jokester.

In any case, it was a few days to Christmas and practically everyone had convened on the penthouse floor because that was where all the fun tended to happen. There was an absolutely enormous tree propped up against the windows, and it was decorated with the gaudiest ornaments that the Avengers had managed to find. The worst decoration– a truly horrible looking cherub with rosy cheeks, a lecherous smirk, and a large diaper – that was the crowning jewel on top of the tree had actually been contributed by Steve.

No one had looked at him the same way afterwards.

It had also given Tony much mental fodder when it came to his imaginary conversations with Steve because it meant the guy had a sense of humor and knew how to use it. Which meant he was a man after Tony's own heart, and Tony didn't quite know what to do with that information.

He was really awful at relationships; just look at Pepper.

There was another muffled snicker from the vents and what sounded like metal clanging against metal, and if Natasha had gotten James up in there, Tony was going to have _words_ with her. (Or not. He valued his dick, thank you very much.)

Stepping into the elevator that would take him down to the level where Pepper's office was, Tony peered up at the ceiling to find a strand of mistletoe innocently sitting there. He narrowed his eyes at it, but it wasn't giving up its secrets.

Well, it was Christmas, and mistletoe was just par for the course. It wasn't like SI had any policies prohibiting stringing mistletoe up, and some overzealous employee had probably put it up hoping to get some poor schmuck under it.

Tony was not some poor schmuck.

But he also wasn't a complete killjoy, so he left the mistletoe alone despite his better judgment and exited the elevator to go bug Pepper into possibly leaving work early so she could entertain him.

Half an hour later found Tony back in the elevator, having been ousted from the office by an eager Happy, who had come to take Pepper out on a _date_. It was completely mind-boggling, not in the least because Tony hadn't seen that coming at all.

Musing (and not pouting at all) over this new development, Tony entered his living room and flopped down on his very comfy sofa, stretching out on his back to contemplate the ceiling and life. He frowned only a moment later upon finding no less than five strands of mistletoe decorating the ceiling.

This was not the work of an overzealous employee…

There was no muffled snickering or giggling, but Tony just knew that if he could hear it, he would. Someone had put up mistletoe, and he'd put money on it being either Natasha or Clint; James seemed the type but was still too skittish.

Well, luckily there was no one else in the room. Tony would ordinarily jump at kissing his extraordinarily attractive teammates, but he had no desire to sour what were actually wonderful working relationships. (Yes, really, shut up, Rhodey.)

Not wanting to push his luck, Tony left the living room and headed for his workshop, which was guaranteed to be mistletoe-free, and not in the least because Dummy would happily set it all on fire. JARVIS had been given very strict instructions on that front, which meant that the only decoration the bots received was a metal contraption shaped like a tree. It still had some presents stuffed under it, none of which Tony had a hand in making or wrapping.

Several hours later, Tony just happened to crane his neck back to stretch it and found an innocuous piece of mistletoe hanging above the doorframe. The fact that it was in plain view of Dummy's charging station made it all the stranger, especially since the bot had seemed particularly excited for some odd reason that was not at all mistletoe related.

Now slightly creeped out, Tony pulled the mistletoe down and stuffed it into a pocket, not wanting to trash it in the workshop for fear of Dummy setting fire to it and the rest of the room. He gave the room one last suspicious look before leaving.

The penthouse was still empty, so Tony went to the bar to pour himself a much needed drink. He soon regretted this decision when Steve came in three minutes later with a rather confused look on his face.

"I thought there was a party?" Steve asked, catching sight of a frozen Tony behind the bar.

Tony recovered quickly, not at all glancing up at the mistletoe. There was one right over Steve's head. "Not that I've heard of. Why?"

"Bucky just told me to be here at this time because there'd be 'food, girls, and other stuff,'" Steve said, using air quotes for the last part.

Tony snorted, his scotch nearly going down the wrong pipe. He set the glass down, wheezing as he brushed off Steve's concern. "No, no… Just slightly perturbed that your friend has a sense of humor under all that stone. No girls allowed up here, except for lovely assassins and scientists with brains that make me very jealous."

"Those were probably the girls Bucky was talking about," Steve remarked dryly, nodding. His eyes skipped from the glass by Tony's hand to his face. "So no party?"

"Nope." Tony shrugged very casually, carefully not looking up because he knew full well there was a strand of mistletoe hanging over their heads right now. He was no way in _hell_ kissing Steve. It would be very awkward, not in the least because Tony felt like jumping Steve's bones 99% of the time anyway. Kissing wouldn't help that feeling; Tony would probably maul him the moment they touched lips.

"Okay." Steve nodded again, fingers rapping against the countertop. He took a moment before he spoke again. "Have you…seen anything…odd?"

"Not really," Tony lied, still not looking up.

Steve's brows pinched together in that worried manner that made Tony want to smooth the furrow out. "Okay." He didn't sound comforted.

"Have you?" Tony couldn't resist asking.

"Probably nothing," Steve said, "but I think someone showed Bucky the vents."

"I knew it!" Tony promptly coughed when Steve gave him an alarmed look. "I mean, I thought I heard something that sounded like it."

"So you have seen something weird," Steve said.

"'See,' no," Tony said, still lying through his teeth. "But you didn't say anything about hearing."

Steve rolled his eyes, a fond smile tugging at his lips. "Of course you'd use that as a loophole. Then have you heard anything else?"

"Lots of snickering," Tony admitted, shrugging minutely. "I don't want to know why."

Much to Tony's surprise, Steve turned a bit pink at that, his neck and ears flushing adorably. "Yeah, uh… Probably not."

Tony raised his eyebrows questioningly, only to receive a slight headshake before Steve turned his focus to their ostentatious Christmas tree, which was now glowing brightly in rainbow-colored lights as the sun went down. It made the ugly cherub at the top even uglier.

"I don't want to know where you got that thing," Tony said eventually, gesturing to said cherub.

Steve gave him an amused smirk, eyes crinkling at the corners. "Probably not," he agreed.

Ugh, was this man trying to kill Tony with cuteness here?

Fortunately, he was saved from dying from cute by the arrival of James, who gave the entire room a casual look before throwing himself down on the sofa and sprawling in what had to be the most inelegant manner Tony had ever seen. And _this_ had been the Winter Soldier? He gave Steve a casual wave with his left arm (something which still made Tony squee in excitement whenever he got his hands on it) before pursing his lips and staring up at the ceiling like it was a painting.

Tony took the opportunity to pick up his drink, taking a long gulp from it before James very casually said, "You're standing under mistletoe," and then he was spluttering on the burn of scotch going down the wrong pipe and trying desperately not to choke on lack of air. _Very attractive, Stark._

Steve had actually come around to help Tony out, patting him on the back while asking if he was okay.

"I'm fine," Tony managed after a large gulp of water from the sink. "So fine."

James, the little sneaky bastard, was staring at the two of them with an implacable expression on his face. "That wasn't kissing," he pointed out.

"No shit!" Tony smacked his hand into the skin above his reactor. His throat still burned, but at least he could breathe.

"There will be kissing," James added, eyebrow quirked and arms folded across his chest. A shit-eating grin wouldn't have been remiss at this point.

"Bucky!" Steve hissed, sounded utterly mortified, shooting his pal a warning glare.

"Just telling it like it is," James said casually. "Unless the mistletoe custom's changed?" He added a moment later, "And full-on macking – none of that cheek kissing stuff you like, Steve."

"Bucky," Steve groaned, burying his face in his hands. "Please stop." The last two words were garbled.

"I have duct tape," James said blandly, rubbing the fingers of his right hand across the red metal star of his left arm.

Oh _fuck_. Between potentially mauling Steve because of a kiss or mauling Steve because they ended up being duct taped together thanks to his crazy friend, Tony was going to go for the kiss because at least then he could run away. That wasn't possible with duct tape, not without ripping off several layers of skin and Tony _liked_ his skin.

Pressing his lips together, Tony straightened and turned to face Steve. Steve was looking rather panicked now, eyes looking anywhere but at Tony, and that hurt more than Tony wanted to admit. Was it so reprehensible to kiss Tony?

"Sorry about this," Tony murmured, reaching up a gentle hand to touch Steve's jaw and angle his head appropriately, "but I'd rather not be duct taped to you for hours on end, no matter how cute you are."

Before Steve could say something that would cement how much he did _not_ want to kiss Tony, Tony pressed their lips together. He'd been going to keep it chaste regardless of James's demands of "full-on macking" because otherwise there'd be full-blown sex happening right here, and it was totally going according to plan because his lips were on Steve's and now all he had to do was pull back and—

Okay, that was more problematic than planned, because Steve's arms had clamped around Tony's body and now he was being pressed up against the bar and practically devoured. Steve was really _going for it_.

Tony thought he heard James say something along the lines of "Okay, wow. Steve, man—", but he was too busy losing his brain through his mouth by Steve sucking on his tongue in the absolutely filthiest way and pulling out a low moan before he could stop it.

"Have safe sex!" James shouted through the haze in Tony's brain.

There was no way Tony could respond to that at the moment because Steve had just hitched his hands under Tony's thighs and lifted him up to sit on the countertop. This changed their angle so that Steve was craning his head back and Tony could better run his fingers through that blond hair and tug.

This pulled out a really deep groan that rumbled through Steve's chest and vibrated through Tony because they were really pressed up against each other, arc reactor to sternum, but Tony just didn't care because _holy shit Steve could kiss_.

Mistletoe was _awesome_.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed that! I, for one, couldn't stop grinning while writing Bucky being a little troll.**


	21. Alternate Universe Kiss

**_Minty4Ever_ asked for an AU kiss and said she didn't really care how I did it. And after some brainstorming with _marmotje_, I came up with this.**

**Hope it meets expectations!**

* * *

**Chapter 21: Alternate Universe Kiss**

* * *

Tony couldn't usually be found at coffee shops, preferring his own brew at home to that of cafés. But he'd had no choice this time given that Dummy had smashed _all_ of his coffee machines (and he had no idea _how_), and he _needed_ his caffeine fix. So now he was sitting here, at a coffee shop, nursing what was probably the most disgusting cup of coffee he'd ever had, and it wasn't even ten.

It was probably a Monday.

Sighing, Tony checked his phone, saw it was indeed a Monday (of fucking course), and then pulled out his extremely portable laptop to do some work while he was sitting in this really small coffee shop.

He checked his email, ignored the small commotion from the group at the next table, and then pulled up some plans R&D had forwarded him. He then promptly resisted the urge to hit something because the plans were absolutely _horrible_ and who had put these idiots in charge?

Oh right. Him.

Grumbling in disgust and wrinkling his nose as he took another small sip of his deplorable coffee, Tony began marking up the entire plan in red, making mental notes as to what should be improved and when this thing actually needed to go into production. Thankfully there was still another month to go…

"Natasha, no!" someone hissed loudly enough for Tony to hear. He glanced over to see a cute blond gesturing frantically at his beautiful red-haired friend, who looked incredibly bored while sipping on her really foamy drink.

Shaking his head in reprimand at himself, Tony refocused on his plans.

Several minutes later, he heard someone else say, "Come on, Steve, it'll be _fun_," in a tone that implied the speaker was grinning his ass off.

Curious, Tony flicked his eyes over, found the speaker to be a young dark-haired man with a metal arm who was indeed wearing the biggest grin Tony had ever seen that wasn't on Rhodey's face, and then looked down as his phone buzzed. Pepper had just informed him that a new order of coffee machines had been put in, but that they wouldn't be in until next week because she thought it was a good thing for him to get out of the workshop and actually breathe air.

Mouth twisting into a scowl, Tony stuffed his phone back into his pockets and returned to marking up the plans with a vengeance. Whoever had come up with this travesty was going to be relegated to janitorial duties.

"No, but he looks _mad_," someone whispered.

"He's cracked out the red pen, of course he's mad," someone else said dismissively.

"A dare's a dare, Steve," a sweet feminine voice said.

Even though he heard all that, Tony wasn't paying it any attention. He was simply browsing through it and discarding it as useless information even as he scrawled NO WHAT WERE YOU THINKING all over the bottom of the plans. Then, vindictively pleased, he saved his work and sent it off to R&D. He'd no doubt get a seething text or call from Pepper telling him off in ten minutes but he didn't care.

Snapping the lid of the laptop shut, Tony leaned back in his chair, disgusting coffee in hand.

"Excuse me," he heard someone say.

Glancing to the side, Tony found himself face to face with the cute and skinny blond he'd seen at the other table. He had a nervous but determined expression on his face.

Tony opened his mouth, about to say that he didn't do autographs, but then anything he could have said was promptly cut off as the blond planted one on him.

The coffee slipped through Tony's suddenly lax fingers, hitting the floor and splashing up against his pants and shoes.

The blond actually slipped him some tongue, fingers squeezing around his neck for a brief moment before he pulled back, blushing scarlet, and then whirled on his heel and grabbed hold of his friend with the metal arm and pulled him out of his chair.

With a loud metal clatter, the chair fell over, toppling both of them to the floor, where they remained sprawled for several breathless seconds, their other two friends shaking their heads in dismay. Their dark-skinned friend actually glanced over at Tony with a smirk before he instantly backpedaled at the look on Tony's face; he grabbed hold of the woman and skedaddled.

In another second, the metal-armed guy had also scrammed with a clear "Sorry, Steve!", leaving only the blond – now named Steve – behind to blink up owlishly at Tony.

For his part, Tony was doing his very best not to look like a complete dumbstruck fool. He could still taste the atrocious coffee Steve had been drinking; it was even worse than his own.

"I'm so sorry," Steve blurted out after another few seconds of staring. "It was a dare!"

Tony raised an eyebrow, wiping his thumb across his lips in consideration. Steve was kind of cute, and judging from the portfolio on the table he was an artist…

"Your kissing technique needs some work," Tony said finally, hiding a smirk at Steve's flabbergasted expression. "But I think that can be arranged if you'll come back with me for an interview."

"A kissing interview?" Steve asked faintly.

"For drawing," Tony said cheerfully, packing his laptop up and standing smoothly. He stepped up next to Steve, grinning down at him. "But kissing can be arranged."

Steve spluttered indignantly in response, but Tony was too busy grinning and ignoring the furiously buzzing phone in his pocket to mind. He had the feeling this was the start of a beautiful relationship.

* * *

**Sam, Bucky, and Natasha remain in disbelief that Tony Stark actually hired Steve on as an artist. They remain even more in disbelief after Tony asks Steve on a date.**


End file.
